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Our second most senior politician said any attempt to change the backstop with “keyhole surgery”by either adding an expiry date or handing the UK the ability to withdraw unilaterally, would continue to be opposed by Europe.

He also said we will not be “steamrolled” into giving ground on the border backstop.

Mr Coveney also rejected any suggestion Ireland was to blame for the Brexit deadlock, insisting responsibility lay in London.

His comments came amid efforts by the UK Government to gain concessions from the EU on the contentious backstop mechanism.

Mr Coveney outlined Ireland’s position after he met with UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt on the fringes of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday. He also met with Mr Barnier.

Michel Barnier, EU Chief Negotiator for Brexit, (left) with Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney at Government Buildings, during a visit to Dublin, ahead of the European Council on 28-29 June to discuss Brexit and other issues currently on the European agenda (Image: Brian Lawless/PA Wire)

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Afterwards, he again made clear that the backstop as agreed in the Withdrawal Agreement is not up for renegotiation.

“There is a deal on the table. The British Government signed up to it.

“Jeremy Hunt was part of the that government. They haven’t been able to sell that to their own parliament,” Mr Coveney told RTE News.

“And I accept that has created a lot of uncertainty, but it is certainly not Ireland’s fault.

“The responsibility to resolve this problem in terms of the way forward needs to lie where the problem is, which is in London not Dublin.

“We would be very foolish if we allowed the onus to solve that problem to switch away from Westminster to Dublin.

“We have been consistent, we have been fair, we have negotiated as part of an EU team with the British Government in good faith and we will continue to do that, but we will not be steamrolled in this process.”

Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Simon Coveney (L) walks with European Chief Negotiator of the Task Force for the Preparation and Conduct of the Negotiations with the United Kingdom under Article 50 Michel Barnier (R) prior to a meeting in Brussels on March 19, 2018 (Image: OLIVIER HOSLET/AFP/Getty Images)

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Under the terms of the withdrawal treaty, the backstop would come into effect if a wider trade deal between the UK and EU fails to materialise at the end of the Brexit transition period.

It would ensure a free-flowing Irish border by tying the UK to the customs union while, in addition, Northern Ireland alone would continue to adhere to EU single market regulations on goods, meaning the region would operate under a different legal framework to the rest of Britain.

The backstop is the primary reason MPs voted down the withdrawal deal at Westminster.